The present invention generally relates to firearms, and more particularly to a safety selector mechanism suitable for a bolt-action firearm such as a rifle.
On some firearms it is desirable for ergonomic considerations, design constraints, aesthetics, or other reasons, to position a safety selector that controls the firing mode so that it must be contained within the stock assembly or another component that can be separated from the receiver or action. Pistol grips as popularized by the AR-15 genre of rifles (adopted by the U.S. military as the M16 rifle) have been commonly used on other types of modern firearms; often on rifles that were not originally designed for pistol grips. On bolt action rifles modified to add a pistol grip, the safety selector may be left in its original location typically alongside the back of the bolt or on top of the buttstock behind the bolt, which is not easily accessed when holding onto a pistol grip instead of cradling the stock. Hence, while acceptable for bolt action rifles without a pistol grip, this top-mounted safety selector location is inconvenient.
On firearms like the AR-15, where all of the fire-control components are contained in the lower receiver, the safety selector remains in the same relative position and does not hinder disassembly. If the fire-control group of components is connected to the receiver or action, while the safety selector is attached or contained within another component, it may be difficult to separate these components without disassembling additional rifle parts. This is especially true for rotating safety selectors, like used in AR-15 type rifles, where the cross shaft of the safety interacts with or intersects part of the fire-control group to block the firing mechanism. Optimally, the safety mechanism and selector switch should be strategically located to minimize the number of components which need to be disassembled to access to the firearm's firing mechanism.
Accordingly, an improved and more conveniently located safety selector design is desired for rifles with pistol grips other than the AR-15 rifle platform.